St. Patrick heard the voice of the Irish calling to him, saying, "Come holy boy and walk amongst us again."
May we also hear Celtic voices both past and present—the ancient lives, the immigrant ancestors, the modern day wayfarers—and learn from their stories.

Apr 30, 2007

Lots of people associate nighttime, because it's dark, with a time of evil. But it just cannot be. The Bible tells us that everything God made is good. It also tells us that God made the darkness

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. Genesis 1:1-5 NIV

In ancient times the night was really dark. If the moon didn't shine, the only light you had illuminated an arc around your torch or fire and the rest of the world was black. There were wild animals in the night. You couldn't see where you were going so you could fall and hurt yourself or be killed. So it's no wonder the nighttime could have been viewed as evil.

But I don't think the ancient Celts saw it that way. Darkness is a part of the cycle of life. It brought rest. The stars were wondrous and provided a tool for navigation. Nocturnal animals were well known by the ancient people, their likenesses showing up on manuscripts, so obviously the people didn't hide out at night.

Why give up half of our existence to evil? Look for our creator in all things, not just the things that are easily seen. (It's almost a full moon tonight. Go outside and look!)

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Cindy Thomson's new fiction series, The Ellis Island Series, will be published by Tyndale House Publishers beginning in 2013. She is the author of Celtic Wisdom, Treasures from Ireland (Lion, 2009). She has also written a historical novel, Brigid of Ireland (Monarch, 2006) and co-authored a baseball biography, Three Finger: The Mordecai Brown Story (University of Nebraska Press, 2006) with her cousin Scott Brown. Her work has appeared in numerous magazines. She writes full-time from her home in Central Ohio and mentors writers through the Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild.